


It's Friday

by bunnysworld



Series: Friday series [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:47:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just as everything seems to be going fine, Merlin's car breaks down and he has to call for assistance. Those garage people are all old, fat and dirty, right? So he has a bit of gaping to do when the bloke showing up is young, blond and fit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Friday

**Author's Note:**

> I think tambear betaed this one, sorry, me forgots.

Merlin whistled a happy little tune as he left the shopping centre. He’d found the perfect gag gift for Leon’s birthday and had gotten himself some Chinese take-out that he planned on wolfing down as soon as he was home. 

Hoping he’d have enough time left after that to take the rubbish out and vacuum his place before the plumber arrived to fix the kitchen sink, he opened his car and got in. Readjusting his sunglasses, he checked his hair in the rear-view mirror of his small purple SUV and turned the key. 

The smile died on his lips when the car didn’t make a sound. He turned off the radio and the AC and tried again. Nothing. 

Oh no! Not now! Not on the top level of the parking garage of the shopping mall! And not today!

Merlin knew that the battery would be the next part to give. The car was ten years old and it was still the original part. He should have bought a new car! A SUV, as small as it was, wasn’t very eco friendly but it was his first car and it had been built for him. He was especially fond of it since the paint job Gwaine had given it a few years back. A dark purple with a dragon on the hood. So he’d decided to stick with the car until it wouldn’t carry him another mile. And besides that, he couldn’t afford a new car anyway. 

So he gritted his teeth and fumbled for his mobile in his pocket, praying to the gods of mobile telephoning that he hadn’t forgotten to recharge it. At least he was lucky with that. He knew he had one of them deals with insurance where he had to phone them first and then they’d send help. But Merlin had never been in need of that service, so he didn’t have the emergency number.

He was close to panicking. He had no time for this crap. There was the plumber appointment, his take-out getting cold and the busty chocolate lassie he’d gotten for Leon which would melt away on this first warm day of spring. So he dialled the first person his mind came up with.

“Gwaine?”

“What is it?”

“Car broke down. I can’t get home.”

“How about walking?”

So. Not. Funny. “Arse! My car is stuck in the garage here, how do I get it out?”

“Call the emergency number your insurance gave you.”

“I don’t have that!” Merlin got more and more annoyed by the second.

“Merlin, if you finally got yourself a smartphone you could google that now!” Gwaine was already typing away in the background. 

Just as with his car, Merlin didn’t believe in replacing stuff that wasn’t broken and clung to his old Nokia mobile. And it had a unique air brush motive on the back cover, a one-of-a-kind-made-especially-for-him dragon, so why would he throw a perfectly good mobile out and buy an overly expensive...

“I’ll text you the number.” Gwaine cut his train of thought and the connection.

When Merlin had the number, everything seemed to go smoothly. As far as a disrupted afternoon because of a dead car battery could be considered ‘smooth’. The bloke promised to send someone to check the battery and to jumpstart it. 

Merlin leaned against the car, trying to make the best out of the situation. He held his face into the warm spring sun, but with his luck, he’d only get his nose burned and not a nice tan. So he texted Gwaine a ‘thanks’ for the phone number and waited. His mobile went off after about ten minutes.

“Mr. Emrys? This is Arthur from AP Assistance. Where exactly are you?”

“Oh, hi, hello!” Merlin couldn’t believe his luck. That was quick! He explained where he was stuck and described his surrounding. 

A few minutes later, an orange car pulled up next to his and a blond bloke in a white t-shirt and flap trousers just as brightly orange as the car got out. The name tag on the flap said ARTHUR. 

Merlin had always pictured those guys as old and ugly but especially dirty, however this bloke looked like he was freshly laundered. 

“What seems to be the problem?” He smiled widely at Merlin and looked at him with intense blue eyes and for a split second a fantasy of being bent over the hood of his car and taken by this man flashed through Merlin’s mind. 

He blinked it away and cleared his throat. “Not that I know a lot about cars, but I think it’s the battery.” He explained what the car had done – or rather not done. “It’s the original one, so it is ten years old. I thought it would give up last winter when we had that cold spell with those awfully cold nights, but no, it has to break down on the first beautiful day of the year.” He bit his lower lip to keep himself from rambling on. 

It looked as if this Arthur fella tried hard to hold back an amused smile. Merlin frowned, it wasn’t his fault that he was never interested in cars! 

The blond got into the car and tried to start it. And of course the battery did...nothing. Merlin folded his arms in front of his chest and smirked. But actually he was relieved. Had the car decided to start just then...he’d have looked as if his village missed the idiot. 

Arthur got out and nodded. “Yup, battery.” He opened the bonnet – Merlin wouldn’t even have known where to push or pull a button to do that – and took a closer look. He stretched to reach a certain part and all Merlin could do was hold back the sound that was trying to escape his throat as he watched the muscles moving underneath that tight t-shirt. 

With a few practiced moves, Arthur attached the jump leads and straightened up again. Too bad, Merlin thought. He could have looked at that arse in that position for hours. 

“Start the car. Don’t forget to put it in neutral gear.” 

Merlin was about to roll his eyes. He was not _that_ stupid. But the smile he was faced with took the sharpness out of the reminder. 

He got into the driver’s seat, did as instructed and almost squealed when the engine purred again. 

Arthur appeared at the open door. “You better get that battery changed as quickly as possible.”

Giving him an uncertain look, Merlin worried his lower lip. “You mean...today?”

“If possible, yes. Or I’ll see you again tomorrow, somewhere in this city.” Arthur grinned.

Not that seeing him again would be such a hardship, but Merlin still preferred not to spend another hour or two dealing with his car. “Can you recommend a garage?”

Arthur handed him some papers. “You need to sign those, so we get our money from your insurance. You’ll get a copy with an address on top. Got a GPS?”

Merlin nodded. 

“Then you’ll find it.” Arthur gave him the copy and packed his stuff. “I’ll call them and let them know you’re coming.”

Merlin nodded again. “And they’ll be able to change this right away?”

“Yeah, they’re very good and work quickly. So...we’re all done,” Arthur smiled and all Merlin wanted to do was kiss that smile until the kiss was the reason for the smile. “Drive safely.” He closed the driver’s door and Merlin watched as he hauled his things into the little orange car, waved and drove off.

Only then it hit Merlin. Why hadn’t he asked for the bloke’s phone number? Or at least just bought him a coffee or something? Missed chances were the worst ones. 

But he had a job to finish and so he typed the address into his GPS and let it guide him through the city. Only that this darn device decided to only tell him to turn left or right when he was either on the lane furthest away or just too late! Just this morning, there was a report on the radio about sun storms and how they could cause all kinds of trouble. Why did they have to cause this trouble just on him? He took a few detours until he finally reached the garage. The building looked new and friendly so Merlin went inside. 

A young woman with long dark hair smiled at him. “Hi, I believe your colleague called in? I’m here about the battery?” 

She nodded. “Mr....” she looked down at a piece of paper that looked a lot like the one he’d just signed, “ah, Mr. Emrys, right? Percy will be right there.”

When a huge bloke appeared and introduced himself as Percy, Merlin wondered if it was a requirement to be good-looking to work here. Percy took the car keys from Merlin, ushered him to a little seating area and left. 

Merlin looked around. There was not much to be seen in a place like that. The woman typed away on her computer and answered the occasional phone call. There were posters of cars on the walls and it smelled like rubber and grease. If grease smelled, Merlin was not sure of that. 

The door opened again and Merlin didn’t even notice the huge grin on his face when Arthur walked in. 

“Any calls, Mithy?”

The brunette shook her head. “No, nothing so far. But your shift’s not over yet.” She winked at him. 

“Oh, I know.” Arthur went through another door and didn’t seem to have noticed Merlin. When he came back, he put two glasses on the little table next to Merlin and poured iced tea into them. “What took you so long?” He grinned at Merlin. 

Merlin just stared at him, open-mouthed.

“You could have been here twenty minutes ago.” Arthur flopped into the chair on the other side and handed Merlin a glass. 

“I...”

“You didn’t get stuck in traffic, I took the same route.” The grin on Arthur’s face got wider.

Merlin felt himself blush. How could you get lost using a GPS? “I took the scenic route!” He pushed his lower lip out in a defiant pout. 

It was probably not one of his better jokes, but Arthur seemed to think it was very funny as he threw his head back and laughed. “You gotta show me that route one day. I’m out on these streets a lot and have never found a scenic route out there.”

Merlin sipped his iced tea and sighed. Being in the sun for what felt like hours and hectically driving through the city to find this place had left him feeling like a dried-up sponge and he hadn’t even noticed it. 

“Feels good on a warm day, eh?” Arthur took a large gulp of his own drink, set the glass down and then leaned back in his chair, arms over his head, stretching. 

Merlin’s breath hitched when he noticed that tight t-shirt being pulled free from those ridiculously sexy flap trousers and a bit of skin was revealed, skin that showed a tattoo. 

Arthur grinned as he noticed the stare and pulled his t-shirt up at that side. “That? A dragon.”

“It looks...” Yes, Merlin stared. And since Arthur showed off his tattoo so freely, he figured it was okay. 

“...a lot like the one you got on your car.” Arthur nodded. 

“And the one on my mobile.” Merlin pulled it out of his pocket and shoved it over. “What a coincidence.” 

Arthur took the mobile and looked at it. “Maybe it’s not co...”

Mithy hung up the phone. “Arthur, flat tire in the centre. Seems they block one lane and it’s rush hour.”

He handed the mobile back and downed the rest of his iced tea. “Gotta go.” He got up and took a piece of paper from Mithy. “Damn, great place for a flat tire.” He raised his hand in greeting, grabbed the keys for his little orange car and left. 

Merlin had been so busy watching Arthur move and his adam’s apple bobbing up and down when he gulped down his drink that his brain only registered moments later that he could have asked Arthur to go out for a beer all the time they’d wasted with idle chatter. Damn, this just wasn’t his day. 

Percy came back with the news that his car was as good as new. Well, at least the battery was. Merlin thanked him for saving him (even though he thought more of Arthur as his saviour) and headed out. If he was lucky he could still make it home on time for the plumber to show up. 

When he got in, he hurried to take the rubbish out and give the place a quick vacuum. Actually he couldn’t care less about what the plumber thought, but he still didn’t like his place to be dirty when he let strangers in. Nevertheless, the apartment looked like a bomb dropped. 

He settled in to wait and opened his take-out. Ewww. Cold food, cold food that had been in the warm car for hours. With a sigh, he threw it in the bin. Carefully he checked the chocolate figure and was pleased to find it still intact. 

What else to do? The hands of the clock on his kitchen wall crept forwards, but the plumber never showed. Could a Friday suck even more?

Merlin looked through his DVD collection and found a movie with that cute young Irish actor from that TV show, but he wasn’t in the mood for something that dark. So he logged on to facebook to let Gwaine know about his adventures in the afternoon and thanking him again for his help. But Gwaine was already on his way out and tried to make him come along. Merlin didn’t want to inflict his bad mood on anyone, so he wished Gwaine a nice evening and then went to curl up on the couch, aimlessly switching channels on TV. 

He looked at the screen, watching that writer bloke follow around his female detective partner but didn’t pay attention to the case they were solving. Why was all the bad luck just on him lately? First, he’d been told that his work would move to the far end of the city which made his way there twice as long and he really hated the area where they’d be located. Then Gwen told him she’d be moving to Edinburgh in July for a new job and a new love. He was happy for her, he really was, but he couldn’t ignore that nagging feeling of losing his best friend. It was kind of difficult to just meet up for a coffee if she was so far away. And now this crap with the car that cost him 3 hours and quite a few pounds. And on top of it, he’d been too dense to ask the cute bloke for his phone number. And for some reason, he felt most sorry about that. 

Just as he pulled the soft blanket from the back of the couch to wrap it around himself – he refused to turn up the heating, it was almost April! – his mobile beeped. For a moment he pondered just ignoring it since he’d thrown it on the kitchen counter with his keys and checking his messages would require getting up from the couch. But it might be a text from Gwaine who’d gotten himself in trouble or from Gwen who needed him for something or other, so he got up anyway. And while being in the kitchen, he could make himself a tea to go with the TV show he was watching.

His mobile showed a number he didn’t recognise but he checked the text anyway. 

_Hi. Did you get home alright? Everything fine with the new battery?_

Merlin blinked. Only Gwaine knew about his odyssey and they had texted via facebook already. How could anyone know about it? Should he just ignore the text? The mobile buzzed again.

_Sorry, forgot to sign. This is Arthur._

Oh. OH! Merlin felt himself grinning stupidly. This was...the grin vanished...kind of strange. Did this bloke do that with all his clients? Texting them in the evening to ask if everything was okay with the car? And if he did, this was most likely just to make sure that the car was alright, right? 

_Yes, everything fine. Thank you. Merlin_

He set the mobile aside and started to make tea, trying to ignore his heart beating wildly. If he got another text, maybe this Arthur was interested? But the mobile stayed silent for the next couple of minutes. Oh well, maybe it was just a check-up with the clients to make sure they’ll come back at the next emergency. 

Feeling even worse, Merlin settled back onto the couch, blowing on his steaming tea, trying to put together what he’d missed on the detective story he had not really been watching. 

He jumped and spilled his tea all over his t-shirt when the mobile rang. 

“Yeah?” Absentmindedly he wiped at the shirt and tried to pull the hot wet fabric away from his skin. 

“Hi Merlin, this is Arthur.”

Oh. “Hi.” Now he called? To make sure the battery was okay?

“I had to leave this afternoon, you know, the flat tire.” Arthur’s laugh made Merlin forget about his t-shirt and smile. 

“Yeah. They usually happen at the most inappropriate moments, don’t they?” Merlin chuckled.

“Yup, they usually do. Hey, how about we talk about them over a beer at the pub later?”

His bad mood vanished immediately. Merlin nodded and then realised that Arthur wasn’t able to see that through the phone. “Sure.” 

“The Green Dragon in an hour? You know where that is?”

Merlin chuckled again. “Yeah, see you there.” 

An hour didn’t leave him much time to get ready, so he just splashed his face with water, pulled a fresh t-shirt out of the closet and put on a pair of jeans that didn’t look like he had leaned against his dirty car for a while. 

The Green Dragon was within walking distance from his place, so Merlin didn’t bother with the car. He wanted to have a beer anyway and drinking and driving didn’t go together in his book. 

When he entered the pub, he looked around, but didn’t see Arthur anywhere. So he found himself a small table in the corner where he could see the place. Realising that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, he looked at what snacks the pub offered and startled when a bottle of beer was placed before him and someone took the seat opposite to his. 

“Hey.” Arthur was as breathtaking as Merlin remembered. Then again, they’d only met a few hours before. 

Merlin just stared for a moment when Arthur’s chuckle pulled him back to reality. “Err...sorry ‘bout that. Hi.” He reached for the bottle and hoped that Arthur didn’t see the slight blush on his cheeks. 

“Seeing anything interesting?” 

“Oh yeah.” Merlin blushed even more, but Arthur was darn interesting in this red shirt. And he was convinced that he were even more interesting without it. But better not rush. 

Arthur laughed. “I meant on the menu. Have you eaten already?”

“I just bought some take-out when the battery happened,” Merlin wondered if it sounded as stupid as it felt saying it. “It was cold and soggy when I finally got home.”

“I’m sorry. Come on, I’ll buy you dinner.” Arthur took a sip of his 7up. 

Merlin smiled. “Not your fault that the battery died on me. But I won’t refuse your invitation. Thanks.” He looked at the menu again. “How about sharing some fish and chips?”

“Sure, sounds good.” Arthur put his mobile on the table and Merlin couldn’t hold back a frown. He always found it very impolite when people checked their mobiles while talking to others. “Sorry ‘bout that,” Arthur flashed him a smile, “I’m still on call. So if I jump up and leave, it’s the job, not you.” He grinned wider.

The uneasy feeling didn’t leave. What if Arthur had a friend call him soon, so he could pretend it was an emergency and leave? But the longer they sat and talked, sharing the food and ordering more drinks, the better Merlin felt. Arthur was easy to talk to, seemed to be interested in what he said and did, and seemed to find his remarks funny.

When last orders were called, Arthur paid – even though Merlin protested, he was fully capable of paying his share – and they left the pub. 

“What now?” Merlin knew exactly what he wanted but he wasn’t sure if Arthur wanted the same. 

“Maybe...we could walk a bit?” 

Obviously Arthur didn’t want the evening to end either. So Merlin started to walk into the general direction of his place. They could...have a coffee...or talk a bit more...or...hell yeah, he really wanted ‘or’. 

As they rounded a corner, Arthur grabbed him by the jacket and pushed him against a wall. “Damn if you punch me later, I just have to kiss you.” And before Merlin could react and assure him that punching him was far from his mind, he felt hot lips against his own and his eyes slid shut as he wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck. 

Merlin parted his lips to let Arthur deepen the kiss and made a little sound when their tongues touched. Arthur tasted of fish and chips and 7up and...Arthur. Not that Merlin already knew what Arthur tasted like, but he liked the taste already. 

When they broke the kiss, Arthur touched foreheads with him and all Merlin could see was the blue of Arthur’s eyes. “My place,” he croaked out, breathing faster already. 

He pushed himself off the wall, grabbed Arthur’s wrist and pulled him along. It had been a good idea to start walking into this direction. His place was only a few minutes away. 

They entered his apartment and Merlin was out of his jacket in no time and had already toed his shoes off. 

Not bothering to turn the lights on, Merlin grabbed at Arthur, their lips crashing together and somehow he managed to move them to his bedroom. He tugged at Arthur’s shirt and slid his hands underneath. He groaned into the frantic kiss when his fingers finally touched warm soft skin. “Off with it.” He pulled back long enough to pull the shirt over Arthur’s head and toss it aside. 

Merlin didn’t take the time to look properly. He just needed, to explore, to kiss, to nibble, to taste. So he pushed Arthur back onto his bed and crawled over him when he felt Arthur’s hands tugging at his clothes. Merlin sat up and tossed his t-shirt aside and scrambled out of his pants, just like Arthur did. 

When all the clothing was gone, Merlin went back to kissing Arthur. He moaned when their erections brushed together. Damn, it’s been too long and Arthur was like a drug. He wanted, needed, had to have him. 

He pulled back long enough to reach into his nightstand for lube and a condom, hoping it wasn’t over the ‘best before’ date, cursing himself for not having checked on that in a while. 

Arthur grabbed the back of his knees and spread himself wide when Merlin rolled the condom on and squeezed the gel onto his fingers. He threw his head back when Merlin’s fingers touched him and moaned when he felt the fingers in him. 

“Ready?”

“Yeah.” Breathless, anxious, needy.

Just as Merlin was about to push in, a shrill sound startled him. He groaned in frustration. How could someone take their mobile into bed with them when they were having sex?????

Arthur reached for it. “Yeah....yeah....got it...text me the corner.” He shoved at Merlin’s chest and sat up, mumbled a few more ‘yeahs’ at the phone before setting it aside. “Sorry, gotta go. Emergency.”

Merlin sat back on his haunches and stared at Arthur. Was this guy real? “Hello? I got an emergency here, too!” He pointed at his erection with both hands. 

Arthur chuckled as he pulled up his jeans. He leaned in and kissed Merlin. “Hold that thought, I’ll be back as soon as possible.” He found his shirt and his shoes and was gone before Merlin really registered what had just happened. 

One moment he was about to fuck the hottest bloke he’d met in his life and faster than he could blink, the fella...had run away. He slumped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. This was so unbelievable! Could this day just be over? 

He tossed the condom aside and played with his erection for a while, but his dick soon lost interest. No surprise there. He’d lose interest in the hand, too, if he could have had the hot arse, Merlin thought. Was it really an emergency that Arthur had to answer to? He said he still was on call. Maybe he’d just asked a friend to call him at this time so he could get out of this date...if that was what they had. But if he wasn’t interested, he could have bailed out long before, couldn’t he? And he didn’t really look not interested when he had his fingers up his arse. Oh well. 

Merlin got up and found his sweatpants and a fleece shirt. With a blanket, he curled up on the couch. He’d consider himself lucky if he at least found the rerun of the detective story he tried to watch hours ago. 

He woke up at around 6 am to a loud knocking on his door. For a moment, Merlin was a bit disoriented as he sat up. Oh, he’d fallen asleep on the couch. He stretched and his neck made an odd cracking sound. That was better. 

There was another knock. Who on earth would knock at this time of day? Merlin shuffled to the door. “Who is it?”

“Breakfast.”

Rubbing one eye, Merlin opened the door. Whoever brought breakfast was welcome. “Oh, it’s you!” All of a sudden he was fully awake. 

“Told you I’d be back.” 

Merlin couldn’t help but returning the smile. “I though it was just...oh, never mind, come on in.” 

Arthur was in his orange flap trousers, hands dirty and smudges of grease on his face. He held out a shopping bag. “Stopped by that 24 hour supermarket. There’s croissants and other stuff.”

He couldn’t believe it. Arthur really had come back! Merlin tried to rearrange his hair with one hand, trying to let it look like he was scratching his head. 

“Not a fan of croissants?” Arthur’s smile faltered.

“Wha...? Oh! Oh, I am, they’re great. I’m just...not really awake yet. Why don’t you...I don’t know, you probably wanna wash that off,” Merlin pointed at Arthur’s face. “I’ll make some coffee. Bathroom’s that way.”

As they sat at Merlin’s small kitchen table, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. 

“What?” Arthur wiped at his face. “Did I overlook some of the dirt?”

“No, no no, you’re fine. I just...”

Arthur stuffed the rest of his toast into his mouth and washed it down with some tea. “You didn’t think I’d be back, right?”

Merlin threw him a guilty look. “Something like that.”

“Trust me, I hated running out on you. But I have a responsibility for this company.”

“You’re taking your job very seriously...for a mechanic.” Merlin bit his lip. Why’d he say that? “Not that there is anything wrong with being a mechanic.”

Arthur smiled. “Nothing wrong with that. That’s why I have to give my people a break once in a while. We’re a bit under-staffed at the moment and Percy worked three weekends in a row. So I took over the emergency part.”

“Your people?” Merlin blinked. “You’re...you’re the A in AP Assistance?”

Chuckling, Arthur nodded. “And I’m the P, too. I’m Arthur Pendragon.” He held out his hand.

“Merlin Emrys,” Merlin said automatically as he shook Arthur’s hand. “But you already know that. Do you call all your clients and buy them a beer after rescuing them?” He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. What had he said now? He really wasn’t good with words this early in the day. 

But Arthur just laughed. “No, usually I’m not that unprofessional. But I thought you might be worth it. And from what I know about you so far, I think I was right.” 

Merlin got up and started to put the remainders of their breakfast away. “Are you...are you still on call?” Listening to Arthur talk, watching him move and being in his kitchen as if he belonged there, Merlin wanted to spend more time with him. Not only to finish what they’d started the night before. 

“No,” Arthur shook his head, “when I told Percy about you, he ‘volunteered’ to be on call for today.”

Merlin didn’t know what to say and then Arthur grinned widely. “Actually, I had to bribe him with a week off and a bonus.” 

“So...,” Merlin turned and inspected the contents of his fridge, “what do you expect to happen now?” That Arthur paid someone so he could spend time with him...nobody had ever done anything remotely like that. And it kind of put a lot of pressure on him. They’d only just met, hadn’t they?

His breath caught when he straightened up again and felt two strong arms around his waist and Arthur’s chin on his shoulder. “I don’t know. I hoped we could...maybe talk, get to know each other a bit better. I have all day. If you...if you want to.” 

Merlin closed his eyes when he felt Arthur’s lips on his neck. “And I hoped we could probably finish what we started earlier.” The smile was back in Arthur’s voice. 

After lots of exploring, tasting, feeling and mind-blowing sex, they lay on Merlin’s bed, Arthur’s head on Merlin’s chest, Merlin’s hand in Arthur’s hair. 

“I don’t even know what you do for a living,” Arthur murmured.

Merlin smiled. “I’m writing children’s books.”

Arthur looked up at him. “About what?”

“A dragon named Gilli.” 

“The adventures of Gilli, the fearless dragon? That’s you?” Arthur’s eyes went wide. 

“How comes you know about those?” Merlin chuckled.

Arthur poked his side. “Mithian’s kids love them. I’ve spent quite some time reading about the coward to them.”

“He’s NOT a coward!” Merlin got all protective about his invention. “He’s just... misunderstood!” But he laughed anyway. 

“Yeah, that he is. Can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.” Arthur settled down and got serious again. “What’s it with you and dragons?” 

“Don’t know. I’ve had this fascination with them since I was a kid. I always knew one day I’d find myself one.” Merlin chuckled. “Since then I’ve been collecting them. Plushies as a child, figurines and action figures as a teenager. Now I have one on my car, on my mobile...and...,” he grinned widely at Arthur, “...one in my bed, don’t I?”

Merlin felt Arthur’s lips on his. “Yup. Guess, you found yourself one. And you know that once a dragon settles somewhere it intends to stay there, right?”


End file.
